New Study Destroys This Common Claim Made by Anti-Gun Nuts

A major claim made by gun control advocates is that states or cities with tough gun laws are undermined by the looser gun-laws in areas surrounding them. Now a new study by the ATF throws a monkey wrench into that claim.

I live near Chicago and this claim by the anti-Second Amendment left is thrown around every single time the violence in Chicago is brought up. The gun-hating left always says, “sure we have tough gun laws here, but since Indiana and Wisconsin have lax gun law, all the guns pour in from those areas where gun control is failing.” Then they say passing stricter laws won’t work if the surrounding areas aren’t just as strict–meaning they want everyone to outlaw guns, not just the areas they control.

But, is this true? Do lax gun laws in surrounding areas hurt the places where gun control is strict?

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Apparently the claim doesn’t hold water, at least as far as a new study by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is concerned. The ATF conducted the study at the behest of the state of Maryland. I expect that the liberals in Maryland assumed their long-held belief would be vindicated and their assumption that gun crime is everyone else’s fault would be proven true.

But, if that is what they thought, they were soon disabused of the notion.

As the The Baltimore Sun reports, at Maryland’s request, the ATF successfully traced more than 5,900 firearms recovered last year to see where they were obtained.

The largest portion of them were purchased in Maryland, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, receiving an “A-” from the pro-gun control Giffords Center (only California receives an “A”).

The ATF found that 47% of the guns were purchased locally; 15% were purchased in Virginia (which receives a “D” rating), and 7% were purchased in “C”-rated Pennsylvania.

So, in other words, most of the guns came from their own area and the nearest state with the less strict gun laws only provided a tiny amount of guns.

That ruins the left’s claim that outside areas with more lax gun laws is a problem.

However, there was a tiny sliver of sunshine for the left to grab hold of. The long-term numbers did show that the number of guns coming from outside their area has trended upward slightly over the last few years. That right there will be just enough for liberals to hang their BS claim on, I’m sure.

They will proclaim, “see, the trend is up,” even though the actual numbers are negligible. Facts need not apply for anti-gun fanatics.

About the author

Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston has been writing editorials and news since 2001 but started his writing career penning articles about U.S. history back in the early 1990s. Huston has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and several local Chicago News programs to discuss the issues of the day. Additionally, he is a regular guest on radio programs from coast to coast. Huston has also been a Breitbart News contributor since 2009. Warner works out of the Chicago area, a place he calls a "target rich environment" for political news.

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